Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner has heaped praise on her co-star Aidan Gillen saying he has been a mentor to her on set and the backbone of her experience on the show.
Spoiler alert for anyone not up to date on Game of Thrones!
During the season seven finale of Game of Thrones, Irish actor Aidan Gillen bowed out of the series as his character Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish was killed by Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) in Winterfell.
Gillen - who predicted his character's fate years ago - was one of the show's remaining original castmembers, and shared many scenes with Sansa Stark actress Turner.
Speaking about their final scene together, Turner said it was "really hard" because he was the "backbone" of Game of Thrones for her.
"It was really hard, because out of all the people I’ve worked with on the show, he has been the one who was consistent throughout, from season one to season seven. He has been my Game of Thrones experience," Turner told Variety magazine.
"He’s been the backbone of it for me. So to say goodbye to him was pretty hard, especially because life imitated art in a way, because he was also my mentor.
"I learned so many lessons just by watching him act. It was this weird parallel and an emotional thing for everyone."
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Turner, who recently announced her engagement to Joe Jonas, also speculated on how Sansa will fare in the final season without Littlefinger's influence saying it will be "a test for her".
"It’s going to be tricky for her, because at the end of last season, she felt that she had everything set up. She had her family back together. They were in control of the North again," Turner said.
"This season, there’s a new threat, and all of a sudden she finds herself somewhat back in the deep end. And without Littlefinger, it’s a test for her of whether she can get through it. It’s a big challenge for her, without this master manipulator having her back. This season is more a passionate fight for her than a political, manipulative kind of fight."
An official air date for the final season of Game of Thrones has not yet been announced, though Turner did let slip that it won't be back until 2019.
